


Let Me Call You Sweetheart

by Kyntha



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: 5 Times, Dancing, Fluff, Insomnia, M/M, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Year That Never Was
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-14 22:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4581813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyntha/pseuds/Kyntha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four times Jack or Ianto are woken at night.  And one time they aren't.<br/>All ficlets take place during Torchwood Season Two.<br/>Brief mentions of the 9th Doctor, 10th Doctor, and Rose Tyler.  Implied Jack/Doctor/Rose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Me Call You Sweetheart

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for The Sound of the Drums/Last of the Time Lords.

**1**

Jack closed the leather bound book with an unintentional snap. The sound in the quiet room woke the man sleeping on his chest.

“Are you reading my diary again, Jack?” Ianto mumbled.

“Yup. Interesting reading after the movie went off.” Jack smirked down at him.

“You know that stuff is private, right? No, don’t answer that.” He sighed, unwilling to move from the warmth of Jack’s chest. Truthfully there was nothing in his diary that he didn’t share with Jack eventually anyway. Just so long as Jack kept it to himself.

It was several months following The Year That Never Was, and Jack was still having trouble sleeping. So they’d settled in Ianto’s bed to watch an old Gene Kelly movie. The comfortable darkness with Ianto was soothing, even if he didn’t quite manage sleep. Jack loved the early 21st century, but he wasn’t crazy about what was passed off as entertainment. Fortunately, Ianto enjoyed “old” movies, and didn't mind staying up late with the older man. Ianto hadn't been honest with Jack, but he'd been having trouble with sleep as well.

Jack kissed the younger man’s head. “You fell asleep. I didn’t want to disturb you and your diary was on the table beside me. Did you really want to force me to my knees and threaten to shoot me execution style...”

“...like you had done to me when...” Ianto started, then trailed off. “You abandoned me and the team, Jack. I was bitterly angry. But now...”

“Now you know it wouldn’t do any good anyway?” The time traveler teased.

“Yes. NO! I mean...Yes, I know it wouldn’t do any good. But no, I don’t want to do it now because I’ve moved past my anger, Jack.” Ianto shifted so he could look into his lovers eyes. “We’ve talked. You’ve been honest with me.” He reached up for a kiss. “Thank you for that, Jack. Thank you for trusting me.”

They were silent for a long moment, Jack stroking Ianto’s dark hair.

“The thing is, even after you returned...even as you trusted me with your year that we didn’t have... the year that....?”

“The Year That Never Was. That’s how the Doctor and I refer to it.” Ianto stiffened slightly. “Still haven’t forgiven me for sleeping with him, Yan?” Jack asked softly.

“I have. I understand why it happened. We all heal in our own way. Still hurts sometimes. But that’s not it, Jack. There’s something I haven’t told you. Something I haven’t even written in my diary....”

Jack knew with Ianto he needed to give the young man the silence to work out in his head what he wanted to say. So he sat leaning against Ianto’s headboard combing fingers through dark hair. He was beginning to think Ianto had gone to sleep again when the man spoke.

“Thing is, I have these dreams, but they don’t seem like dreams. They seem real. They feel real. You’re gone off with the Doctor, and the whole world is in disorder. Someone or something is trying to take over the world. Folks are rounded up and sent to prison camps. I think whoever is trying to take over is building a large weapon to wipe out the human race. Owen is dead, shot by a spherical thing with blades, because he tried to fight back. Gwen is just gone. I can’t find her anywhere. Tosh and I’ve locked ourselves in the Hub. Every dream is different, Jack, as though a continuation of the one before.” He paused. “I’m afraid to have the next dream. I’m afraid what will happen when the bladed things get into the Hub. What if they get Tosh...and me?”

Jack stared down at Ianto. He had told Ianto nearly everything about The Year That Never Was, but he had not described in detail what Martha had said was happening on Earth, nor had he described what the Toclofane looked like. “When did you start having these dreams?”

“A few days after Election Day. In fact, the day Harry Saxon died.”

“Probably just a reaction to the stress of me being gone and the assassination of the Prime Minister, don’t you think, Cariad?” Jack soothed, but inside he felt panic. He hadn’t returned to tell Ianto his story until 3 months after the election.

Ianto shivered. “That’s not the worst part. The worst thing is in every dream, every single one, I often feel as though I’m gasping for air and then being dragged across broken glass. Like a part of me is dying....and reviving again.”

The two men met each other in the eye. “As if I am experiencing every one of your deaths, Jack.”

**2**

Jack woke to the sound of retching from the bathroom. He climbed out of bed and hurried to the kitchen for a glass of cold water. Grabbing a towel and a couple fresh washcloths from the small linen closet in the hall, he then headed to the bathroom.

“Yan?” He knocked on the door.

“Don’t come in!” Ianto called.

Jack ignored him and stepped into the bathroom, blinking in the bright light. He draped the towel over Ianto’s naked back as the ill man stood hunched over the commode. “You’re burning up!”

As Jack began rinsing a wash cloth under cool water, Ianto cried, “You are a thousand years old! How have you not learned the decency of not invading someone’s privacy?” before retching again.

The two men stood in the too bright bathroom, Ianto gripping the edge of the commode. Jack placed the washcloth on Ianto’s neck and rubbed the man’s back. “Can you drink some water yet?”

At the small shake of a head, he continued to stand near his lover silently, one hand discretely touching fever points, trying to gauge how sick Ianto might be. Hundred and three or so temperature, Jack reasoned to himself.

“Pizza last night didn’t agree with me.” Ianto groaned.

“I don’t think it was the pizza. You need something to bring that fever down.”

“Ugh....I’ll vomit it back up.”

“Try some water first.”

Sure enough, the water stayed down approximately 10 seconds.

“Yan....” Jack murmured sympathetically. 

Eventually Jack was able to help Ianto into a pair of pajamas and settle him in bed with an extra blanket and a large bowl nearby. He lay beside Ianto, far enough so as not to crowd him, but close enough to rest a hand on the younger man’s arm. In the dark, he could see Ianto’s eyes drift closed, then pop open again several times.

“Sleep, Cariad. I’ll be here when you wake. I’ll always be here when you wake.”

After a long restless hour, Ianto’s eyes stayed closed even as the morning sun peeked through the slits in the blinds. Jack shifted his position to reach his cell phone on the bedside table. He texted the team “Ianto sick. Carry on without us.” but never left the bed.

**3**

Jack screamed in terror. It woke Ianto out of a deep sleep, but he immediately rolled over on the small bed in Jack's private room in the Hub. "Jack!" He gently shook the still sleeping man. "Jack!"

When he found Jack's hands at his throat, he didn't flinch, but changed his tone. "Cariad..." he whispered softly into Jack's ear.

The older man yelled. "What?! No! Let her go!"

Ianto continued to whisper in his ear, not fearing the hands still gripping his throat. "It's a dream, Cariad. It's okay. You're safe."

A long few moments later Jack finally stopped struggling and his grip on Ianto's throat loosened. "Yanno, I'm sorry." He murmured, his voice still husky from sleep. "I keep putting you in danger."

Ianto leaned in to brush his lips across Jack's. "I can take care of myself, Jack. You have never choked me so hard I feared I couldn't shake you off. It's better not to fight you, though. Another dream about the Master?"

"Yes. When I laughed at his treatment of me he began torturing the Doctor and Tish in front of me instead."

Ianto held Jack until he stopped trembling. He wished he knew of someone Jack could talk to, but how do you explain an alien invasion, a year of captivity and torture, and a mastermind trying to rule the world that only happened to a handful of people without being committed? Ianto reached over to a small table. "It's nearly morning, Cariad. Let's play cards until time to get ready for the day. It'll help take your mind off the dream."

"Naked poker?" Jack smirked.

"If you wish." Ianto sighed, hiding a grin.

**4**

Jack heard music coming from Ianto's small living room. He hadn't thought he'd fallen asleep but he must have because he didn't realize Ianto was no longer in bed. He padded out to the living room to find the younger man sitting cross legged on the floor in a pair of lounge pants. Ianto's eyes were closed and he hummed so softly to the music, Jack wasn't sure Ianto even realized he was doing so.

_Heart beats fast Colors and promises How to be brave? How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?_

When Jack sat on the floor quietly beside Ianto, he was surprised to discover tears sliding down the Welshman’s cheeks. Jack touched Ianto’s leg softly so as not to startle him. “Yan...”

Ianto opened his eyes. “Jack, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I should have used the headphones.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think I’ve been asleep long.”

“You haven’t. It’s just after midnight.”

_Time stands still Beauty in all she is I will not let anything take away What's standing in front of me Every breath Every hour has come to this_

“You’re crying.” Jack reached up to caress Ianto’s cheek and to thumb away a tear.

“It’s this song.” Ianto leaned into Jack’s hand. “It makes me wonder.”

“How so, Yan?”

“You, me, this...” Ianto swept his arm wide. “How can you possibly be here with an uninteresting, unremarkable, unimportant junior archivist...a coffee-boy...when you could be traveling all of time and space with the Doctor? Or using your time vortex manipulator to go back to Proust?”

“Proust was immature and boring.” Ianto shot him a look. “Well, he was...” Jack whispered, sulking.

“Point is, Jack, the other people who have crossed through your life are more than I can ever be.”

Jack placed both hands on Ianto’s face. “Ianto Jones, you are not uninteresting, unremarkable, OR unimportant. You are more than the Doctor, Rose Tyler, Proust, John Hart, Estelle, or anyone else combined. You are...everything to me. I returned after The Year That Never Was because I want to be here, not flying away with the Doctor in his TARDIS. Oh, the times we had, the Doctor, Rose, and me...they were fantastic.” Ianto looked away at the wistful look in Jack’s eyes. Jack cupped Ianto’s chin and turned his head to face each other. “Yan, I would trade every second of that time for just one moment with you.”

_One step closer_

Jack slid his hand down to Ianto’s neck and pulled the Welshman in to a kiss. “Dance with me, Yanno.” He pulled Ianto to his feet and they swayed to the music. The older man began singing along to the song softly in Ianto’s ear.

_I have died every day waiting for you Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you For a thousand years I'll love you for a thousand more_

His tenor voice soothed Ianto, and he settled his head on Jack’s shoulder. Ianto had heard Jack sing before, usually when he thought he was alone in his office, and almost always music of the early 1900’s. He seemed to be especially fond of Glenn Miller. To hear Jack singing just for him...to him...caused fresh tears to form.

_And all along I believed I would find you Time has brought your heart to me I have loved you for a thousand years I'll love you for a thousand more_

When the song started over, Jack pulled back slightly. “Come back to bed, Yan.”

“I’m not ready to sleep yet.”

“I wasn’t thinking of sleep.” he smiled.

As Jack led Ianto back to the bedroom, Ianto said “Cariad...?”

“Mmm?”

“I would never ask you to trade your time with the Doctor and Rose, but...” he stopped, suddenly shy about his request.

Jack pulled Ianto in for another kiss. “What is it, Ianto?”

Ianto rested his forehead on Jack’s. “Would you sing to me more?”

The older man smiled and immediately broke into a rendition of Glenn Miller’s _I Know Why_ as he moved Ianto toward the bed.

**5**

The two Torchwood agents were silent as they walked across the Hub toward the stairs to the showers. Ianto began stripping off his suit, stained with purple goo. Jack stood beside him doing the same. Their clothing hit the floor of the shower room with a loud splot.

“How could you not know male Raxacoricofallapatorians ejaculate as a defense mechanism?” Jack demanded.

“How was I supposed to know?” Ianto stripped off his trousers and pants.

“You’re the researcher and archivist!”

“And you’re the thousand year old, omnisexual, time and space traveler!” The Welshman shot over his shoulder, turning on the water under two shower heads.

Jack opened his mouth to protest, but decided Ianto was right. “For what it’s worth, steer clear of female Raxacoricofallapatorians. They breathe poison when threatened.”

“Lovely. That you know.”

Jack grabbed the soap and began to lather Ianto’s back. His hands slid further down to the cleft of his rear. “Jack, I am tired and covered in alien...goo. I am in no mood for games tonight.” Ianto protested.

“I’m simply helping you bathe. Thought it was the least I could do since I did get us into that mess.”

“I’m fairly certain I do not have Raxacoricofallapatorian ejaculate _there_.” Ianto snapped. When Jack held up a hand covered in purple slime, Ianto mouthed “Oh. Never mind, then.” Former time agent and Welshman stood together under both shower streams bathing themselves and each other. Ianto stood quiet while Jack washed his dark hair. They rinsed and bundled themselves into towels before padding upstairs.

“Let me just go shut down the Hub and check on our new guest.” Ianto stated “I’ll be up in a few.”

“Don’t get too close this time. We don’t know if he can attack again!” Jack laughed.

Ianto returned 5 minutes later to find Jack stretched out on his small bed snoring peacefully. The Welshman smiled softly, lay beside the older man, pulling the rough wool Army blanket over them both. “Sleep while you can, Cariad.” he whispered.

There was no need to set an alarm. One or both of them nearly always woke by 5:00a.m. at the latest, well before anyone else was due in to work.

At 8:30a.m., Ianto woke to a shout of greeting. “I know you two are here. Tea-boy’s car is out front!” Owen called. “Do we have a new inmate?”

The second line caused Jack to wake with a start. He looked at Ianto in horror. Struggling into clothing, Jack dashed down the steps with Ianto trailing behind. “Owen, don’t.”

A threatening roar and a shout of obscenities echoed up from the holding cells. “You could have left me a note.” Owen growled stomping off to the showers moments later.

The two men collapsed together in a fit of laughter. Drying tears from his eyes, Jack said, “Under the circumstances, I can’t even be angry about Owen waking me out of the best nights sleep I’ve had in ages.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I know _A Thousand Years_ was released in 2011 and Torchwood Season Two in 2008. Just go with me, here. Also, if you haven't heard John Barrowman's version of the song, it is well worth giving a listen to.


End file.
